


that girl thinks she's the queen of the neighborhood (i got news for you! she is!)

by theformerone



Series: resolve [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, but also like full time girl crush all over sakura, girls helping girls, hero crush, moegi hears wedding bells, sakura is confused
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 09:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13268247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: Moegi watches Sakura-san heal Udon's arm with a wave of her green glowing hand and thinks, 'Wow'.Then 'How did she do that?', then, 'How can I do that?', then 'Will she teach me how to do that?' and finally, 'Gosh, she's pretty'.most girls from Moegi's perspective.





	that girl thinks she's the queen of the neighborhood (i got news for you! she is!)

**Author's Note:**

> Title lifted from Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill.

Moegi would like the record to show that it was not her idea to ditch classes that day. She had been planning on cutting class  _tomorrow._

Running around the village with Udon and Konohamaru was a much more interesting way to spend her afternoon than learning the sacred feminine art of flower arranging and tea ceremony. Moegi understood the solemn necessity of having such lessons. If she were every assigned a honeypot infiltration, these would be valuable skills. Assets that might save her life, or help her to end someone else's. But she was mildly allergic to daisies and her feet always went numb when she watched Suzume-sensei lecture about how to subtly include poison while boiling tea. 

But when Konohamaru slid a note across their desk to her that said ' _Ninja tag after lunch, loser has to write a love confession to Ebisu',_ the temptation was too great.

Moegi gets excused to go to the restroom two minutes before lunch starts. She idles in the bathroom before lifting herself on top of the sink. The windows are there to let in natural light, but too high for anyone to look into or see out of. She pulls a bobby pin out of her hair and jimmies the lock until it gives. Pin between her teeth, she hoists herself up (bemoaning how heavy she is and how little muscle mass she has) and eases herself out of the window.

The jump isn't very far down, but she lands toe-ball-heel-crouch like she's been taught. Paranoia makes her look over her shoulder at the open window. The memory of the invasion still fresh in her mind, Moegi forms the seals to make a clone that she transforms into Iruka-sensei. He doesn't have a scar and one of his arms looks, well, not very much like an arm, but it's passable. He crouches down so she can get onto his shoulders and she slides the window shut. There. That's safer. Probably. 

Since Moegi is the first one off of academy grounds, she waits for the others by Ichiraku. Udon arrives next, and Konohamaru last. While all three of them have a terrible reputation, Moegi and Udon tend to get off a little easier than Konohamaru. He is a Sarutobi, an honorable grandson. Moegi isn't civilian born and neither is Udon, but they're not quite that important. Besides, Konohamaru can still be a brat some days. Udon looks like a harsh wind could knock him over. Moegi is cute as a button. Between the three of them, it's obvious who gets more flack than the others when they get caught.

When Konohamaru arrives, he somehow manages to produce three cans of spray paint from his scarf. Moegi is not surprised. She's given the green can, and Udon takes the yellow, while Konohamaru keeps blue for himself.

"First person to get tagged by two people loses," he says.

Moegi purses her lips. "What's the love confession to Ebisu have to say?"

A devious smile works its way across Konohamaru's face. "Winners will dictate it to the loser."

"How will we know when to stop?"

Konohamaru puts a finger on his chin. "Okay, then the first person to tag the other two, then get back here wins."

"Deal," Moegi says as she shakes up her can. "Anything goes?"

Udon gulps. Konohamaru narrows his eyes at her. "Anything goes."

"Good."

"Ready," Konohamaru says.

"Set," Udon says, eyeing the patrons of the ramen establishment.

"Go!" Moegi shrieks.

They scatter.

Between the three of them, Moegi is probably the fastest. Udon's stronger than the other two, but Konohamaru is smart, crazy smart even though he sometimes gets caught up in his own schemes. If she runs and keeps running, she might be able to evade them both long enough to tire them out. If she tires them out, or they get caught up tagging each other, then she can sneak in, and get a green line on both of their backs before they know she's there.

But that would probably be less fun. 

She purses her lips and ducks into an alley beside a nearby food stand. She forms the hand signs to transform herself into her older sister. Umeko is a seventeen year old genin whose hair is a few shades darker than Moegi's, but their faces are shaped pretty much the same and their eyes are the same color, too. She usually works shifts at the mission desk, but Moegi knows for a fact that she's off today and probably necking with her girlfriend in the restricted section of the library. 

She reaches up a hand to scratch the back of her sister's head, running her fingers over the shaved sides and the pixie cut burnt orange hair that lays on top. She swallows, slips her can of paint into her sister's pocket, and moves. 

Knowing Konohamaru and Udon, they probably ran in opposite directions. Udon is more likely to head back toward the academy in case he gets tagged, so that if one of them tags him, they're the ones in trouble for having spray paint on academy grounds. Konohmaru probably dove into the city like she did. 

With Umeko's body, she has the upper hand. Her older sister is a beauty, but she's also taller and has way more muscle than Moegi's own flimsy arms. She isn't stronger like this per se; she's still the one fueling the jutsu. But if she attacks in this form, she'll still have the element of surprise on her side. 

She takes the longer way back to the academy, sidestepping the route she had taken to escape for her return. 

She's right. (She loves being right.) Udon is at the academy. He's lollygagging in the practice area now that lunch has ended, hiding between the practice dummies. 

"Udon-kun!" she calls. "Udon-kun!"

He tilts his head beyond the dummies to look at her. "Umeko-chan?"

"Mm! Have you seen Moegi? She forgot she has a dentist appointment today, so she wasn't at the front office when I came to pick her up."

Udon nods, buying the story. "We're playing ninja tag," he says, "but I'm not sure where she is right now. Last I saw her was at Ichiraku."

Moegi puts her hands on her sisters hips and grumbles, "That's so like her. So irresponsible. Not like you, Udon-kun. I'm sure you don't make your family chase you around the village."

He flushes a little under the praise.

"I'll go look for her then," she says, slipping her hands into her pockets. "Thank you for your help."

"Sure, Umeko-chan."

She turns to leave in front of the practice dummy so he can see her go, but at the last moment she turns. She throws out her left arm to wrangle Udon to the ground while her right hand whips her spray paint out of her pocket. Udon yelps, surprised at being tossed around by Moegi's older sister but somewhere along the way it clicks that it's just a transformation. He knocks his head back to bust her nose, but Umeko is taller than them both. He actually slams the back of his head into her breasts. Moegi is not impressed. She wrestles him onto his back but he bucks the whole way down. 

"Quit - quit wriggling," she grumbles. But he's moving too much and Moegi suddenly realizes that she currently looks like a seventeen year old girl assaulting some ten year old kid, loses her concentration and with a puff of smoke, she's back in her own body. 

Udon is more than able to take her like this. Moegi has maybe a second to tag the back of Udon's shirt before he's able to get her off his back. She scrambles to her feet, just barely escaping his swipe for her leg and runs. 

She books it straight for the fence at the edge of the practice area. Knows if she can muster up enough chakra to transform back into her sister, the jump over the fence won't be half so difficult. She's fast but she's tired, and Udon is gaining. Moegi sucks in air, feeling her legs burn as she goes. She puts a hand on her stomach, and tries to feel for her chakra the way they're taught to. There's enough. There's just barely enough, but she can do this, oh man she can do this. If she makes it over the fence, she can circle around the academy and head back into the village proper. Then she only has to find Konohamaru, tag him, and get back to Ichiraku. She's so close to winning, she can taste it. 

Dog, boar, ram. Moegi bursts back into her sister's body, gets one hand on top of the low chain link fence, and vaults herself over it in one neat move. She lands toe-ball-heel-crouch and springs back up. She's running again, but a howl makes her skid to a stop. When she turns over her head, it's to see Udon on the other side of the fence, slumped on the ground clutching his arm. 

He's bleeding. 

Her drop in concentration (her surprise, her fear, the roil in her gut that says this is her fault) dispels her transformation.

"Time out!" she shouts, loud enough for Konohamaru to hear if he's nearby.

She runs back to the fence, scrambles up and over it and next to Udon. 

He's sniffling, holding back tears but blood is soaking through the sleeve of his dark grey shirt. 

"What happened?" she asks. 

"I -," he starts, "I tried to get over the fence after you but I lost my footing and I slid back and my arm -"

"Okay," she says, "okay."

She has no idea what to do. The cut on Udon's arm looks deep and a lot of blood is coming out, way too much. She can't remember any of the basic first aid she ought to know. And there's nothing nearby to shove on the cut to stop the blood. 

"Don't cry," she murmurs, "don't cry, okay? It's not that deep, it's just bleeding. You're okay, okay?" 

Udon nods, clutching his arm tight.

"Hold it, I think you have to hold it close to your chest?" she says, wracking her brain for something helpful. 

Udon does as he's told but Moegi isn't sure how much help she can really be. It's pretty normal for kids to scream on the academy grounds. Eight year olds are perfect banshees. Most of the teachers are able to tune out the noise if it happens during their classes. So Moegi does the only thing she can think to do. 

"Ebisu-sensei!" 

She hollers his name as loud as she can. She knows that after lunch, Konohamaru leaves campus to be privately tutored by Ebisu. Since lunch is past over, he's bound to be heading to the academy if he's not already there. 

"Ebisu-sensei! Ebisu-sensei!" 

She doesn't know how much yelling will help. She could get Udon to his feet and help him to the infirmary, but then they'll get in trouble and they'll scare the other academy students. The hospital is nearby, but she's not sure Udon will be able to make the walk with how pale he's looking right now. 

"Hey, hey, what are you shouting about him for?"

Moegi releases a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding.

Konohamaru is running towards them, spray can held at the ready but he drops it when he realizes Udon is bleeding. Then he shouts, "Ebisu-sensei!" 

It's then that the tokubetsu jounin appears. He takes one look at the three of them and the spray painted streak on the back of Udon's shirt before he pinches the bridge of his nose. 

"Moegi-chan, move away from Udon-kun. I'm going to take him to the hospital."

Moegi gets up and stumbles a few steps back as Ebisu advances towards her and Udon. He crouches down beside the sniffling boy and puts one hand on his shoulder.

"You two," Ebisu says, "can walk."

He body flickers himself and Udon away. 

Moegi and Konohamaru look at each other. A second later they break off into a dead sprint towards the hospital. Moegi's been running all day, but she doesn't ever remember running this hard. 

* * *

 Konohamaru asks the nurse at the front desk where Udon is while Moegi folds the bottom of her shirt in her hands and feels like a terrible friend. He grabs her arm and drags her to the right room, and all she can do when she sees Udon bloody on the bed is whimper out an apology. 

There's a light knock on the door that makes Moegi jump. Two medics walk in, the taller one a Hyūga in green scrubs and the shorter one a pink haired girl only a couple of years older than her. Well aware that there are only so many pink haired people in Konoha, Moegi recalls her as Naruto's friend, the one they had met before the Chuunin Exams two years ago. 

"Ebisu-san," the Hyūga medic says, "I'm Hyūga Azami, and I'm supervising Haruno Sakura. She'll be taking care of Udon-kun, here. If you'll just step away from the bed, please? Thank you."

Azami and Sakura change the orbit of the room. They can't crowd around Udon when the two medics politely but insistently get them out of the way. Sakura crouches in front of her patient so she's at his eye level and gingerly takes his arm in her gloved hands. 

"Hello, Udon-kun," Sakura says, "I heard you and a fence got into a fight and the fence won." 

The humor makes Udon's lip wobble. He nods. 

“Not to worry,” Sakura says, a light smile on her face. “It’s a pretty clean cut. We just have to clean it out, and then we can heal it right up.”

When she cleans the wound, Udon hisses but Moegi is rapt with attention. Clean hands, she tries to remember. She needs to have clean hands when she treats a wound, she has to clean it. She needs to ask more questions during first aid practice, because she isn't sure how well she could suture a wound shut if she ever had to. She's on the verge of asking Azami when the Hyūga's eyes bulge as she activates her Byakugan. The orange haired academy student furrows her brows, confused about why she'd need her kekkei genkai during a healing, but at Udon's little hiccup, Moegi gets her answer. Udon doesn't need stitches. Sakura is healing him with  _chakra._

Moegi watches Sakura heal Udon's arm with a wave of her green glowing hand and thinks, _'Wow'_. 

Then _'How did she do that?_ ', then, _'How can I do that?'_ , then _'Will she teach me how to do that?'_ and finally, _'Gosh, she's pretty'_.

Her eyes can't seem to stop flickering between Sakura's face and Sakura's hands. When the green glow goes away, Moegi feels unreasonably upset. She watches the young medic patch up Udon's wound the rest of the way, barely hears Ebisu's thanks and goodbye, and shrugs off Konohamaru's arm when he tries to urge her out the door. 

Haruno Sakura is  _amazing._

“Are you injured as well, Moegi-chan?” she asks. “Moegi-chan?”

Haruno Sakura is  _talking to her._

Moegi blinks. She's been staring. 

“You’re so cool, Sakura-san!” she blurts. 

She turns around and bolts before her face turns so red she matches the color of Sakura's qipao.

* * *

Moegi learns more about Sakura the shinobi way. 

She snoops. 

Sakura is a member of Team Seven but Sasuke abandoned the village and Naruto left on a training mission so Sakura became the apprentice to the Godaime. The _G_ _o_ _daime._ She reads medical texts at the library but she sometimes reads horror novels with blood red covers with gory illustrations. Sakura likes green tea and aloe vera water. She has some of the best chakra control in the  _entire village._ She's learning how to make poisons under Shizune, the Godaime's first apprentice. 

She also trains with her year mates. Often. 

Moegi is not a spy. Or at least, she's not a spy yet. Most of her intel comes from picking the filing cabinet locks in the academy principal's office so she could look over Sakura's records. (Sakura has  _perfect_ records, she aced every written exam and even though her taijutsu and ninjutsu were pretty weak, her chakra control pointed to her being a genjutsu specialist.) The rest comes from listening in on conversations from other patrons at Ichiraku or parents picking up their children from the academy, who have nothing but glowing praise for the godaime's new apprentice. 

All of this, is to say that Moegi is not a spy. (Not yet.) But she is observant.  _Very_ observant. So when one morning, she sees a flash of pink hair pass her on her way to the academy she stops dead in her tracks. And when she hears someone's booming voice holler about youth and which training ground to meet at after their morning run, well, Moegi was planning on missing her kunoichi lessons that day anyway. 

* * *

 Haruno Sakura is a  _badass._

Moedig discovers this hiding behind a bush on training ground nine. Sakura is sparring with Hyūga Neji.  _Hyūga Neji_ , the pride of the Hyūga branch family, the boy who Naruto beat in the second round of the Chuunin Exams.

She watches, tucked low enough so that her pigtails don't pop up over the bush. The two form the seal of confrontation. Sakura has a smile on her face. Neji - Neji looks like a Hyūga.

Sakura goes in for the attack first, but Neji spins and does - something that creates a huge sphere of chakra that throws Sakura back as soon as she advances. She regroups, and makes about ten clones before using a body flicker to take her further away from the fight. Neji dispatches the clones with two fingered strikes that look like he's barely trying, but every once in a while one of the clones will poof into a kunai or a shuriken.

 _'Substitution,'_ Moegi thinks, _'she must have used her weapons to make substitutions so when he dispelled them, he'd hurt himself.'_

Once he gets the trick, Neji is more careful but by then Sakura is standing still. Moegi's hands turn into fists; what in the world is she doing? Is she waiting for him to attack her back? But Neji is still dispelling clones. Or at least he looks like he is. He's striking at the air. He even turns his whole body and makes himself a dome of chakra as if something, or someone is attacking him. 

_'Genjutsu!'_

Sakura is moving then, circling the training ground until she's almost directly behind Neji. Her hands are forming seals though, as if she's putting one genjutsu on top of the other. She only stops to take a kunai out of her pouch. She throws it to the left but moves to the right. The kunai grazes Neji's cheek, jolting him out of the illusion but Sakura is moving hard and fast. She's close, almost too close inside of his range for his little strikes to work and she knees him in the back,  _hard._ It knocks him a step forward, but it's all he needs to start pivoting on his foot to make that dome again and blow her away. Sakura slams her foot down right in front of his, stopping his rotation and gut punches him so hard  _Moegi_ can feel it. 

He takes the quick beating with grace but his footwork is faster than Sakura's. He manages to turn around her body and does a back kick that knocks Sakura off her balance. She stumbles, unable to turn in enough time before Neji slams a palm into her back that knocks her onto her stomach. Sakura turns, rears back and launches herself back onto her feet but now that she's lost the element of surprise, Moegi doubts she could get another genjutsu over on him. She dodges back as Neji advances, hands moving into her kunai pouch. 

 _'If he's not careful,'_ Moegi thinks,  _'she'll cut his fingers right open.'_

Neji as it turns out, is incredibly careful. Unwilling to risk damaging his fingers in a close quarters fight, he switches to open palm strikes. They knock Sakura back, but the knife in her hand is still enough to make Neji wary. It's only when he knocks her wrist hard to the left, disarming her, that she's able to come at him with a right hook. He blocks it. They're in a deadlock, both of them nearly shaking with the effort of holding off the weight of the other. Moegi holds her breath. Sakura headbutts him. 

Moegi is _in love_. 

She can't help the whoop that comes out of her lips. She slams her hands over her mouth as soon as she makes the sound and burrows down behind the bush in case anyone sees her. She misses the end of the spar for fear of getting caught, but a while later she inches her head back up to see. Neji's pale purple eyes are on her. 

A chill crawls up her spine and she feels rooted to the spot. It's only when Neji begins to inspect Sakura's arm that Moegi gets to her feet and eases out of the forest.

* * *

 She may. She  _may_ have a tiny,  _tiny_ crush on Haruno Sakura. 

Konohamaru calls her a stalker and blames Sakura for Moegi's sudden disinterest in cutting class and pranking Ebisu. 

"I'm not a stalker," she argues, "I'm her biggest fan. You're  _Naruto's_ biggest fan, aren't you?"

Konohamaru puffs up, starts talking about how it's different because Naruto and he are brothers and how they're going to fight for the title of hokage one day. Moegi looks out the window at the cherry blossom trees and dreams about being able to punch a boy so hard something cracks. Maybe Sakura will teach her.

* * *

She's in a tree when she realizes she has a problem.

Admiring Sakura from afar is one thing. Moegi is getting the distinct impression that at this point, she might be annoying her new hero.  

She has her arms and legs wrapped around a tree branch, peering down at where Sakura is tracing some kind of field sign onto Hyūga Hinata's arm. Moegi makes a mental note to ask Iruka-sensei about field sign, and another note to figure out if Sakura maybe has a thing for dark hair and pale eyes when she sneezes. 

Shodaime's beard, she sneezes. 

The two kunoichi below her are up in an instant. Sakura is armed and Hinata looks like she's about to fight the same way her cousin does. Moegi is so surprised she chokes on her own apology, coughs hard, tries to cover her mouth, and loses her balance. She feels her body swing around the tree, legs the only thing keeping her steady. But her body weight pulls her too hard and suddenly she is falling. 

Moegi is so embarrassed to have made such an idiot of herself in front of  _Haruno Sakura_ that she scrambles to stand, blurts, “Sorry to interrupt, Sakura-san! I was just on a, uh, training exercise and I fell! I’ll be going now!” and runs. 

* * *

 Moegi finds out about the Chuunin Exams in Suna from Umeko. 

"Akito-sensei won't enter us in the exams this year," she moans to her parents. 

Their father sputters into his rice. "Why on earth not?"

"He says our marksmanship still needs work," Umeko says, elbow on the table. 

"Marksmanship? You've been a genin for five years!" their father exclaims. "How much better can your marksmanship  _be_?"

"What about next year?" their mother asks, putting more eggplant on Moegi's plate. 

"They'll be in Taki next year," Umeko says, "and to get there, you have to go through this - underwater cave  _thing_ that spits you out into a  _lake._ " 

"What's wrong with that?" their mother asks. 

Umeko throws her hands up and says, "Akito-sensei doesn't think we're strong enough swimmers!"

Moegi stops listening. The Chuunin Exams. No way the godaime's second apprentice won't be allowed to take part in the Chuunin Exams. Especially not when she's training so hard with her year mates. 

She finishes her dinner listlessly, helps her mother clear the table, thinking. The idea strikes her as she's getting ready for bed. She's brushing her teeth beside her sister. She spits toothpaste into the sink and says, "There's a really big test coming up at the academy. Ninjutsu."

Umeko looks down at her, still brushing. She goes, "Muh-huh."

"I'd like to get some luck charms, you know, for me and Udon-kun and Konohamaru-kun," Moegi says. 

Umeko hums and keeps brushing. After a minute, she spits, runs the sink and fills her toothbrush cup with water. She gargles, spits again, and puts her toothbrush in the cup. 

"The temple near the Yamanaka clan compound has some pretty ones," she replies. 

Moegi nods, toothbrush fisted in her hand. Umeko narrows her eyes. 

"You need to borrow some money, don't you?'

Moegi nods. 

Umeko laughs, and tousles the hair on Moegi's head. She swats her big sister's hands away, knowing now she has to brush it again. 

"No worries, imouto," Umeko says. "I've got your back."

* * *

 Umeko leaves the money on Moegi's desk with a little note that says,  _'Good luck getting good luck for your test!'_

She gets home from the academy, snatches it up, and heads right back out again. She has to ask for directions to the Yamanaka clan compound, and then she has to ask for directions from a pretty blonde girl in the adjoining flower shop but eventually,  _eventually_ Moegi makes it to the shrine. 

There are so many omamori she has no idea which one to pick.

There are black ones and red ones and black  _and_ red ones. She's never seen Sakura wear black, so she isn't sure if she should get one. Then again, she wears a lot of red, so maybe she'd like a change of pace?

There are white ones and green ones and yellow ones, some of them too garish for Moegi to even consider giving. There are cat shaped and horse shaped and little cloth balls, and even ones that look like tiny wooden kites. She forgets she's looking for a luck charm when she realizes she's holding one with an inscription for warding off evil. 

She's about ready to give up, putting back a little white horse charm exactly where she found it when someone moves in her peripheral vision. When she turns, it's to see an older man putting a green charm down. He pays for something else, thanking the shrine maiden as he does and Moegi side steps over to where he was standing. 

This one is  _perfect._

The katsumori is green and black, laid with dark gold thread. It fits between her two hands and she can feel her heart hammering in her ears. Sakura is going to love this. She's going to  _love_ this.

She spends all her money on the single charm. 

* * *

 She has to wake up earlier than she's ever had to, to catch the Konoha Eleven before the leave through the gates. 

Her hair is a mess, she hadn't had time to comb it. Even though she set her alarm, she still woke up a little late. She holds the katsumori by the thread, worried she'll crush the charm if she holds it between her hands. 

She arrives just in time to see Sakura standing at the gate, writing on a clipboard. 

"Sakura-san! Sakura-san!" Moegi yells. 

She catches the older girl's attention. Moegi tries to move a little faster, but finds her legs won't pay her any attention. They had run laps yesterday to gauge their stamina and Moegi's calves still feel like jelly. Sakura jogs to meet her halfway. 

“What is it, Moegi-chan? Are you alright?”

As soon as she speaks, Moegi clasps her hands behind her back, hiding the charm from view. 

“Well, I -,”

_'I think you're really cool and really strong and really pretty and I spent all my sister's money to buy you this charm and I hope you do really well on the Chuunin Exams because you deserve to make chuunin because you're probably the strongest, coolest person I've ever known.'_

She settles for a bow. As she bends at the waist, she brings her hands forward, katsumori clasped between them. 

She tells the ground, “Good luck at the Chuunin Exams!”

“This is for me?”

Moegi nods so hard she thinks she might have given herself whiplash. 

 “Thank you, Moegi-chan. Thank you very much.”

Haruno Sakura is so  _nice._

 _'And her hands are calloused,'_ Moegi notes as Sakura takes the charm from her hands. The thought makes Moegi's face hot. Haruno Sakura has  _callouses._

“I hope you do well at the exams,” Moegi blurts before she can lose her nerve, “and return to Konoha a full fledged chuunin!”

Sakura smiles at her. Haruno Sakura  _smiles_ at her and says, "I hope so, too."

A voice shouts,  “Tell your fangirl to go back to bed!” and Moegi wants to duck into the collar of the jacket she threw on before leaving the house. Oh no, does  _everyone_ know? 

But then she feels a hand on top of her head. Her first thought is,  _'Haruno Sakura is touching my head.'_ It is immediately followed by,  _'Haruno Sakura knows I didn't comb my hair.'_

The pink haired love of Moegi's life only says, “Thank you for believing in me, Moegi-chan,” before she turns and leaves. She even waves at her over her shoulder as she leaves through the village gates.

Moegi is on cloud nine. 

* * *

While Sakura is away at the Chuunin Exams, Moegi catches herself doodling Haruno Moegi into the margins of her notebooks. Later, when Umeko is helping her with basic chakra theory, she sees it and teases her little sister mercilessly about her crush. 

* * *

The next time they get in trouble, they get called into the Godaime's office. Moegi remembers being called into the Sandaime's office, but he was Konohamaru's jiji and that was different.

Tsunade-sama is - imposing to say the least. For one, she's beautiful. For another, she's Sakura's teacher. Which means Tsunade can do whatever Sakura can do but better. Stronger. Scarier. 

She has just finished giving Konohamaru a lecture on being a descendent of a kage, and what that means. How his behavior is a reflection of not only themselves, but the kage's, and therefore, of the village itself. How it's also important for good friends to curb a companion's bad behavior, when they know their friend is making bad choices. 

Konohamaru listens absentmindedly. Udon is trying not to stare at Tsunade's breasts. As soon as they're dismissed, the question bubbling on Moegi's mouth fights its way out. 

"Hokage-sama," she says, "do you think Sakura-san is going to pass the Chuunin Exams?"

Tsunade pins her with a curious gaze.

"Sakura is my student," the godaime says. "I know she is going to pass."

Moegi grins. She nods and follows Udon and Konohamaru out of the room. When she gets to the doorway, Shizune, the Godaime's first apprentice stops her and says, "Sakura's one of the brightest shinobi in her year. You don't have to worry about her."

Moegi grins. 

"I won't!"

* * *

Izumo and Kotetsu are just as funny as they look. She's been bothering them for the past five days, wondering when the Konoha Eleven will be getting back from Suna. She's taken to loitering after school instead of during, well aware that her bad habit of cutting class has come to her parents attention. Iruka and Suzume-sensei had been adamant about that. She consoles herself with the hope that the eleven won't come back when she's in class or before she wakes up or around dinner time. 

Izumo and Kotetsu turn their heads like twin owls. That's how Moegi knows they're back. 

She runs to meet them, skidding to a stop before she barrels into Sakura. The look on the other girl's face, the way all the eleven are smiling and jostling at each other answers Moegi's question before she can ask it. 

“You passed!” she shouts.  “I was rooting for you! Me and Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san! We knew you could do it!”

A flicker of something goes across Sakura's face too quick for Moegi to recognize it. She wonders if maybe she's crossed a line. 

“Thank you for believing in me, Moegi,” Sakura says. Moegi thinks she might swoon. Haruno Sakura just said her name without an honorific. How _familiar._

“The charm you gave me really worked.”

Moegi raises her brows, mouth dropping open. 

“You think so, Sakura-san?”

“Yeah.”

Haruno Sakura just said her charm helped her during the Chuunin Exams. Haruno Sakura made chuunin with a charm Moegi bought her!

 “Good! I’m glad!”

* * *

 Moegi decides that if her omamori helped Sakura that much, then she's going to be as helpful as she can. 

She takes to carrying one of her sister's old weapons pouches, except its filled with supplies. Hand sanitizer, in case Sakura needs to heal a wound but her hands are dirty. She keeps a full canteen if Sakura happens to empty her own water bottle. If Sakura's weapons get dull, Moegi makes sure she has Umeko's old whetstone. She has hand towels in case Sakura's sweat gets in her eyes during training. She has a handful of tampons in case Sakura's period surprises her. 

Konohamaru is convinced that Moegi is out of her mind. 

Moegi only says, "It's nothing you wouldn't do for Naruto-kun." It shuts Konohamaru up. 

"Has he written you a letter recently?" 

And that sets Konohamaru fuming. Udon glares at her. Moegi sticks out her tongue and flits away to find the kunoichi she's sure she's going to marry one day.

* * *

 Sakura was never cold to her, not really. But she was always a little distant, like she wasn't sure why Moegi was following her around. Sometimes the other chuunin in her year would give her a second glance or two, as if they weren't sure either. Moegi tries not to let it get her down. The novels that Umeko reads tell her that sometimes it takes a while for your crush to notice you, but it's important to be persistent.

So Moegi stays persistent. 

Sakura is kind. So very kind, even though she's a little hesitant. She asks Moegi how her day is. Sometimes after class, when she's got scabby knees and skinned elbows, Sakura will heal them. And unlike Ebisu and Iruka-sensei and Suzume-sensei, Sakura likes it when Moegi plays spy games with Konohamaru and Udon. Sometimes, she even gives her tips and tricks to use on the boys. The first time Sakura slips Moegi a bright pink smoke bomb, Moegi's jaw goes slack and her stomach flips. 

(She never uses the smoke bomb. She keeps it on her bedside table. Haruno Sakura gave her a present!)

Sometimes Sakura walks her home. She meets her parents and her older sister. Moegi buries her face in her hands and tries not to scream when Umeko jabs her in the side and says, "So she's the one, huh?"

Every once in a while, Sakura will treat Moegi to sweets. They play jan-ken-pon to decide which flavors they're going to get when they get some to share. It quickly spirals into regular matches just for the sake of playing. Moegi likes the way Sakura cackles when she wins. She doesn't even mind when Sakura rubs her fists onto either side of Moegi's head when she loses. 

It takes time. Just like the novels say. And even though her crush is insistent as it's ever been, Moegi knows it comes from admiration, and the admiration grows every day.

Sakura is pretty. Really pretty. But she's strong and stubborn and kind. She's so serious, but she's always ready to snap out of it and make a joke. And she's affectionate. The first time Sakura pulls Moegi into a hug, she's sure she's going to combust. The hugs, the thumps on the back, the pats on her head, they become regular. One time, when Sakura is teasing her, she slips up and calls her 'nee-san'. The look on Sakura's face when she does makes sure she keeps doing it.

"If she's your nee-san," Konohamaru says, "then why doesn't she teach you anything like Naruto-nii used to teach me?"

Moegi grits her teeth and chews on the question. She hadn't thought about it.

For the most part, Moegi was happy enough just to stay by Sakura's side when she was allowed. She likes helping her. She hadn't really thought of whether or not she wanted anything in return. But Konohamaru's question makes her stomach roil. Why didn't Sakura teach her anything? Did she not want to help Moegi?

It's a week before Moegi manages to give Sakura a protein bar after her spar with the brown haired girl from Team Gai. She waits until the three man cell has left the training ground before she musters up the courage to bow her head and ask,  “Will you look at my katas and tell me if they’re good, Sakura-onee-san?”

Sakura puts the wrapper of the protein bar into her pouch. She puts her hands on her hips and smiles. 

“Of course.”

It spirals from there. There isn't a question that Moegi can ask that Sakura doesn't have an answer to. She makes her a better marksman, better at taijutsu, corrects her transformations when they're a little off, makes her run until her lungs burn and more after that.

Sakura tells her what she does wrong in a way that Moegi completely understands. Moegi's grades, already above average, spike upwards. She raises her hand more in class. Pays close attention even in kunoichi lessons. She finds that tea ceremony is boring, but hiding poison in a teapot is a lot more interesting when she knows Sakura can teach her which teas mask the flavors of which poisons. Flower arranging is way more fun when Sakura teaches her how to say 'fight me' or 'your breath smells' with weeds. 

Moegi is sparring with Udon in their taijutsu class when she realizes how much she's grown.

She isn't anticipating a win, just going through the motions of dodging and blocking when she sees an opening. She takes it before even thinks, grabs Udon's arm, yanks him into her, and solidly flips him onto his back before her mind can catch up with her. 

Udon looks up at her like she's the _actual_  Godaime. 

The match is called in her favor. Moegi helps him up and forms the seal of reconciliation. What she's just done catches up to her after she returns to stand with the rest of her classmates. 

Udon is stronger than her. Udon's always been stronger than her. Even when they first entered the academy. Moegi's the fastest. She's also got the best aim. But Konohamaru is the ringleader, and he's smarter, and he's the sandaime's grandson. Udon is the voice of reason, but he's a little taller than her and he's got three older brothers. He's been wrestling since before he entered the academy. Umeko was never one to toss Moegi around. She was more the teasing type, preferring to braid Moegi's hair than pulling at it. Udon knew the academy katas before he even enrolled. But she just put him on his back. She just beat him at a  _spar_. 

Moegi is beaming. 

When she gets out of class that day, the only person she wants to tell about her victory more than her parents, more than her sister, is the pink haired onee-san who taught her how.  

**Author's Note:**

> moegi's crush on sakura is the size of texas don't @ me 
> 
> did y'all know that moegi can use the wood release??? and she's also a sensor?? she's tobirama's great granddaughter, i'm SURE. nothing but respect for my long lost senju baby. 
> 
> thank you for reading x !


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